First Drive: 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe XL

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — If you've never heard the name Veracruz before, you're not alone.

Veracruz was, among other things, Hyundai's über SUV — a large three-row behemoth with a big cargo area and an even bigger price. It was among the lowest-ranked nameplates in terms of name recognition in the SUV market.

To say it was Hyundai's Titanic isn't quite fair, though it's true that it never reached the levels Hyundai hoped. Those who did buy one liked it a lot, but it died a slow, painful death surrounded by few loved ones and many, many incentives.

On the other hand, it's all but certain you've heard the name Santa Fe, and not just because of that quaint New Mexico village. Santa Fe is one of the most-recognized SUV nameplates on the market, now entering its third generation.

Today's Santa Fe now comes in two flavours: the Santa Fe, which is a smaller five-passenger crossover, and the XL, the subject of today's review and the replacement for the Veracruz. The XL adds 215 millimeters to the overall length and 100 mm to the wheelbase. That makes just enough room for a third-row seating position.

"If you regularly need to carry adults in the third row, you're not buying any of these three-row SUVs," acknowledges Michael Ricciuto, Hyundai Canada's national manager of product and strategic planning.

But it does have adequate leg, shoulder and hip room for children, and that’s the market Hyundai is targetting.
The XL, despite being about the size of the Veracruz, is 145 kg. lighter for the same overall capacity. Which means it has capacity for 11 more bags of golf clubs, 5,115 more shots of tequila (we are just across the border from Mexico, after all) and 2.78 more Cameron Diazes.

Pulling these six or seven passengers and stuff is a new engine from Hyundai, a 3.3-litre gasoline direct injection V-6 delivering 290 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 252 lb-ft of torque at 5,200 rpm.

Power is transferred to either a front-drive layout or an all-wheel-drive layout through a six-speed automatic transmission. The combination, in either front- or all-wheel-drive versions, is capable of towing 5,000 pounds.

Hyundai said that while the 2.0-litre turbo that powers the most-powerful Santa Fe (non-XL) would be sufficient for the XL, research suggests buyers in the three-row market are looking for six cylinders and put fuel economy low on the list of priorities behind towing and capability.

In all-wheel-drive trim, it's rated for 10 litres per 100 km combined, which depending on your driving style should translate into 12 to 14 l/100 km in real-world driving.

"These aren't generally high-mileage vehicles," Ricciuto said. "People aren't using them for long commutes. They're using them around their neighbourhoods and on weekends."

We spent about six hours tooling around southern California and we found the ride and handling of the Santa Fe to be quite good. Depending on the tire and wheel combination, it handled very twisty roads very well. Smaller wheels that gave taller sidewalls to the tires lost a few marks in handling, given the added sidewall roll on hard corners.

But to be fair, few drivers will push these as hard as we did.

The new engine and transmission get top marks for the pairing's combination of smoothness, responsiveness and intuition. It never felt as if it was hunting for a gear and shifts were almost seamless.

The XL shares a virtually identical interior layout with its short-wheelbase sibling. The good news is that the build quality inside and out is very high. Pieces inside fit together very well and there was nary a squeak, creak or rattle on our drive.

For the best access to the third row, the six-passenger version — which uses a pair of captain's chairs instead of a bench in the second row, is the way to go.

The days when Hyundai had to give back in price what it lacked in styling, build quality and design are over. That makes it a challenge for Hyundai to convince dealers to sell products based on their merits after a couple decades of selling based on 'the deal', but it means that the company isn't giving up margin to apologize for product.

It seems every time Hyundai — and by extension its sister company Kia — introduce a next-generation of an existing model, it always takes a step forward. Sometimes by a lot, sometimes by a little, but never a step back.

And that has given designers more flexibility: instead of the trying-too-hard, over-the-top days of the Tiburon, Hyundais are coming to market with more refined style. That should help it win even more customers.

The Santa Fe XL comes in four models: the base model offers front-wheel drive and nice standard features such as heated seats, heated power mirrors, windshield wiper de-icer, cruise control and Bluetooth. The premium model moves into all-wheel-drive and adds a heated steering wheel, rear parking assist, heated rear seats and 115-volt power outlet.

There's also a luxury model that adds a panoramic sunroof and a limited model, which adds everything in all the other models plus navigation, upgraded instrument panel with TFT information screen, 550-watt Infinity sound system, keyless entry and start.

The new Santa Fe XL didn't just meet the benchmark for intermediate SUVs, it became the benchmark.